Shaping and ribbing tool for bowling ball finger holes

ABSTRACT

The shaping and ribbing tool for the finger holes in a bowling ball has a bit which is generally triangular in cross section with two sharp edges and a rounded edge. The first sharp edge is straight and is used to smooth or hone the interior of the finger hole. The second sharp edge is divided into a plurality of spaced teeth which is used to form finger gripping furrows and ribs or ridges in the finger hole. The third edge is rounded and acts as a bearing during use of the tool. A handle is secured to the bit&#39;&#39;s shank.

United States Patent Eppolito A 451 Ju1y4,l972

[54] SHAPING AND RIBBING TOOL FOR BOWLING BALL FINGER HOLES I58] Field 0ISearch....... ...14S/114, 1145;90/12; 30/1649, 169, 172,300, 142; l5/1()4.02, 105

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,646,581 7/1953 Nelson ......30/172 X 3/1954 Carlson .j. ..145/114.5X

Primary Examiner-Theron E. Condon Assistant Examiner-J. Cv Peters Attorney-Graclolph, Love, Rogers and Van Sciver [57] ABSTRACT The shaping and ribbing tool for the finger holes in a bowling ball has a bit which is generally triangular in cross section with two sharp edges and a rounded edge. The first sharp edge is straight and is used to smooth or hone the interior of the finger hole. The second sharp edge is divided into a plurality of spaced teeth which is used to form finger gripping furrows and ribs or ridges in the finger hole. The third edge is rounded and acts as a bearing during use of the tool. A handle is secured to the bit's shank.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a new and improved tool for shaping and ribbing the finger holes in a bowling ball, and in particular it relates to such a tool which has a single bit providing a shaping edge and a toothed ribbing or ridging edge.

. As a bowling ball is continually used the finger holes and particularly the thumb hole become worn and smooth and sometimes slightly out of shape. Ordinarily a new bowling ball has a certain feel" in the finger holes which may be attributed to the material from which the ball is made. This material provides a gripping surface on the insides of the finger holes which enables the bowler to grip and properly manipulate and release the ball during the bowling motion. As the finger holes become worn the feel. disappears, and the ball is less easily controlled during the delivery action.

Various arrangements have been devised to repair such worn bowling balls. Very old onesinclude reboring the holes to accept a bushing type insert, or inserting pads or patches in 1 the finger holes to provide the gripping surface, or inserting other devices in the finger holes on which the fingers may grip. One scheme involved the use of a heated knurling insert which was placed in the worn finger hole and pressed against the side to reform the material of the ball to accept the knurled pattern.

These arrangements have their disadvantages. The inserted pads and other devices are customarily made of a material different from that of the ball and do not restore the original characteristic feel. The one arrangement for knurling'the inside of the finger hole by a heated tool requires the use of a special and relatively expensive tool to do a simple job.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The tool of the present invention is simple in its construction, easy and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and does not have the disadvantages of the heated knurling tool referred'to hereinabove. It has the advantage of restoring and reshaping a worn finger hole so that the ball material will provide the feel which waspresent when the ball was new. Thus, the disadvantages of using pads or other types of inserts are overcome.

The tool has a bit which may be made of bar stock or tool steel and is of generally triangular shape in cross section. Two of the edges are sharpened and one of the sharpened edges is cut to form a plurality of teeth spaced longitudinally about one-eighth inch apart. The smooth sharp edge is used to reshape the finger hole and to remove undesired irregularities and the like. This action removes a slight amount of material, but not enough to affect the weight of the ball. The toothed edge of the tool is used to form ribs or ridges in the finger hole where the finger presses during delivery of the ball. Thus, if it FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of the bit portion of the tool showing the cutting edges and is taken along the line 1 2-20fFIG. I;

is desired to provide the hole with such ribs or ridges, that is done after the first edge has prepared the hole. It is important that the hole sides be formed of the ball material so that it has the original or new-ball feel."

It is a principal objective of this invention to provide a tool for shaping and ribbing the finger holes of a bowling ball which does not have the disadvantages of the prior art tools and which has the characteristics described in the preceding paragraph.

Another advantage and objective is the provision of such a tool having minimum number of parts and which may be made at a relatively low cost.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the tool of the present invention;

shown in FIG. 4 to remove undesired irregularities, burrs and for reshaping or honing the bowling ball finger hole.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION Bowling balls are made of a hard rubber, rubber-like, or filled synthetic resin composition, and they are drilled to provide two or usually three finger holes. One hole secures the bowler's thumb and the other. or others one or two of his fingers, usually the middle and ring fingers. The finger holes are usually drilled at proper spacing into the ball and are not internally ground or polished. They have a feel," therefore, which is imparted by the grain and other characteristics of the material of which the ball is made. After a ball has been in use for some time the inner surface of the finger holes, particularly where the fingers exert their gripping action, become worn, irregular in shape, and smooth to such an extent as to be less effective for gripping than when the holes were originally drilled. Tool 10 of the present invention is to be used to restore the finger holes to their initial condition.

The complete tool 10 is shown in FIG. 1 and includes a bit 12, a handle 14, and a shank l6 integral with the bit and by means of which the bit is secured to the handle. The bit 12 and shank 16 may be made from bar stock or tool steel, and as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 the bit is generally triangular in transverse scction.

The bit 12 is approximately 1% inches long and is generally triangular in cross or transverse section. The bit 12 has a first sharpened cutting edgel8 extending the length thereof. This edge is unbroken and is adapted for reshaping the worn finger holev and for removing irregularities in the finger hole as will be explained hereinafter.

The bit 12 has a second sharpened edge 20 which is divided into a plurality of teeth 22. The teeth 22 are formed by slotting the bit 12 at about one-eighth inch intervals as shown at 24. At the edge 20, the sides of the slots 24 are cut back or ground away to form the teeth 22. It should be noted from FIGS. 3 and 4 that surface 26 interconnecting the edge 18 and the teeth 22 is slightly concave as is the surface 28 which extends between the teeth 22 and third and rounded edge30 of the bit. If desired surface 32 between the unbroken sharpened edge 18 and the third edge 30 may also be slightly concave. I

The bit 12 is integral with the shank 16 which has a portion (not shown) extending through ferrule 34 intothe handle 14 where it is secured in a known fashion. Adjacent the teeth 22 the shank 16 is formed with a curved thumb or finger rest 36 which pemiits the tool to be easily used in the manner hereinafter described.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the manner in which the tool 10 is used. These figures show a fragment of a bowling ball 38 having a finger hole40. These figures are about twice actual size of both the hole and the tool bit.

Ordinarily, the tool 10 will be used first in the manner the like, from the inner surface of the finger hole 40. The tool is inserted so that the unbroken or continuous cutting edge 18 bears against the-hole surface as does the rounded edge 30. The handle 14 is comfortably gripped with the thumb or a finger bearing in the rest 36. Using the rounded edge 30 as a fulcrum the. edge 18 is pressed against the surface of the hole and the tool 10 moved in the clockwise direction. The edge 18 is caused to remove sufficient material so as to smooth the inner surface of the finger hole 40, eliminate irregularities and the like, and restore roundness to the extent desired. When this operation is completed the hole 40 will be much like the hole in this fashion.

Should a bowler desire additional finger grip characteristics in the finger hole 40 of either a new and recently drilled ball 38 or one where the finger hole 40 has been smoothed as described'in the preceding paragraph, the tool is used as shown in FIG. 3 to impart furrows and ribs or ridges in that part of the hole surface gripped by the bowlers finger. The tool 10 is inserted so that the teeth 22 engage the hole surface, and again using the rounded surface 30 as a fulcrum the sharp teeth 22 are pressed into the material of the ball as the tool is turned in the counter clockwise direction. Enough passes of the tool are made to remove material sufficient so that furrows and ridges are made which are sensitive to touch but not so prominent as to prevent proper release of the ball during delivery.

The tool 10 may also be used to chamfer the edge of the hole 40 at the surface of the ball to relieve the pressure of the finger thereagainst.

From .the foregoing it can be appreciated that the advantages claimed for this are attained by it.

I claim:

1. A tool for reshaping a finger hole in a bowling ball comprising in combination, a bit having a first working edge and being sharpened to provide a honing action in the finger hole to remove irregularities and the like, said bit having a second working edge with a plurality of longitudinally spaced sharpened teeth for forming furrows and ridges in the wall of the finger hole, said bit having means for providing a fulcrum during use of said first and second edges, and means connected to said bit for manually using the tool.

2. A tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bit is triangular in cross section and provides a rounded third edge between said first and second working edges to act as said fulcrum during use of either of said first andsecond edges.

3. A tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bit is formed with a shank integral therewith which has a curved conical finger rest adjacent said teeth on said second working edge.

4. A tool as claimed in claim 3, wherein said manual means comprises a handle secured to said shank.

5. A tool as claimed in claim 2, wherein the faces of said bit between said edges are slightly concave.

i i a l i 

1. A tool for reshaping a finger hole in a bowling ball comprising in combination, a bit having a first working edge and being sharpened to provide a honing action in the finger hole to remove irregularities and the like, said bit having a second working edge with a plurality of longitudinally spaced sharpened teeth for forming furrows and ridges in the wall of the finger hole, said bit having means for providing a fulcrum during use of said first and second edges, and means connected to said bit for manually using the tool.
 2. A tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bit is triangular in cross section and provides a rounded third edge between said first and second working edges to act as said fulcrum during use of either of said first and second edges.
 3. A tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bit is formed with a shank integral therewith which has a curved conical finger rest adjacent said teeth on said second working edge.
 4. A tool as claimed in claim 3, wherein said manual means comprises a handle secured to said shank.
 5. A tool as claimed in claim 2, wherein the faces of said bit between said edges are slightly concave. 